A woman whose husband bought her engagement ring from a pawn shop was dumbstruck when she had it valued on Antiques Roadshow, gasping: “Wow!”
In the BBC One show, which aired on Sunday (January 31), expert Susan Rumfitt gives her opinion on how much the diamond and emerald Art Deco bling is worth – but first asks how its owner stumbled upon it.
She says: “Well, it was in a pawnshop in Barnsley, in South Yorkshire.
“And I kept going past it and looking at it and loved it and sent a picture to my then-boyfriend and said, ‘If you ever want to marry me, this is the ring.'”
The sparkling ring was bought in a Yorkshire pawnshop (Image: BBC)
The guest said her then-boyfriend thought it was too expensive and she spent two years walking past it in the pawnshop window – until one day it vanished.
She was heartbroken but her boyfriend had a surprise for her – and had actually hidden it inside a cracker which she pulled on Christmas Day.
“I ran out of the room first of all because I was so shocked, not that he asked me to marry him but it was the ring,” she laughs.
The Antiques Roadshow guest waited two years for the ring (Image: BBC)
Susan says the ring is “beautiful” and then explains its origins.
The jewellery expert says: “The centre stone is a beautiful, old-cut diamond which has had a little bit of a modification to the cut.
“And this was very popular at the time that it was made which was around about 1930.”
She adds: “We’ve got a beautiful diamond – well cut.
Susan Rumfitt says the ring is ‘beautiful’ (Image: BBC)
“But over and above that, it’s an Art Deco piece of jewellery, which people are really hunting down at the moment.
“It’s also set in platinum which again is the typical metal for that period as well.”
Giving her verdict, Susan reveals: “I’d be very confident to say that somebody would pay around £12,000 to £15,000 for this.”
“Wow,” the owner gasps, “Maybe I won’t garden in it anymore!”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
